Calories burned calculator
For an accurate calculation, we need some basic information about you.
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How calories burned are calculated
Every activity has a MET value (a metabolic equivalent) which says how hard it is compared with sitting still. Sitting is 1 MET. Walking at a normal pace is about 3.5, so it burns roughly three and a half times as much energy per minute. Running is closer to 10.
Your body weight is the other half of the equation, because moving a heavier body takes more energy. That is why two people doing the same run for the same time burn different amounts, and why the calculator asks what you weigh rather than assuming an average.
How accurate is it?
MET values are population averages taken from the Compendium of Physical Activities, so the result is a good estimate rather than a measurement. Your fitness, your technique, the terrain and how hard you actually pushed all move the real figure, sometimes by 10–20%.
It is also worth knowing that the number includes the energy you would have burned anyway during that time just by being alive. If you are subtracting exercise from your daily intake, that overlap is small but real, and it is one reason not to eat back every calorie a tracker gives you.
